Generally speaking, ionic liquids refer to a specific class of molten salts which are liquid at temperatures of 100° C. or below. Ionic liquids have very low vapor pressure and generate virtually no hazardous vapors. Due to the charged species comprising the ionic fluids, they provide a highly polar medium.
In recent years, there has been much interest in this class of novel materials. Ionic liquids have been extensively evaluated as environmental-friendly or “green” alternatives to conventional organic solvents for a broad range of organic synthetic applications. In addition, ionic liquids have also been used in organic synthesis applications as catalysts. Conventional ionic liquids for a wide range of chemical processes are described in “Ionic Liquid” by J. D. Holbrey and K. R. Seddon, and in Clean Products and Processes, Vol. 1, pp. 223-236 (1999). Other examples of ionic liquids are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,388 and PCT publication no. WO 02/26701.
Furthermore, ionic liquids have also been found useful in chemical separation and extraction, as described, for example, in WO 02/074718.
Ionic liquids also have applications in electrochemistry, for example, in fuel cells, electrodeposition processes and other electrochemical applications.
Additionally, ionic liquids have been shown to be effective in applications where water-based chemistry can be problematic (for example, applications involving proton transfer or nucleophilicity), or in applications where certain coordination chemistry could have a damaging effect on the substrates involved.
Moreover, ionic liquids have found applications in consumer product formulations and industrial product formulations for surface treating, air treating, cleaning and other benefits, as described in WO 04/003120.
It is desirable to develop new classes of ionic liquids by converting certain conventional solid or semi-solid actives used in consumer or industrial product formulations into ionic liquids. Thus, the ionic liquids may be used as replacements of the traditional actives, such as surfactants, fabric softeners and bleaches. Moreover, the ionic nature and/or fluidity of these novel ionic liquids may provide additional advantages, such as ease of incorporating into the formulation, ability to incorporate higher concentration of the active functionalities into the formulations, lower viscosity of the resulting formulation, and/or improved soil removal capability of the resulting formulation.
It is also desirable to develop new classes of ionic liquids with additional advantageous properties. For example, new classes of water immiscible ionic liquids having bleach functionalities can be used in conventional aqueous based formulations to provide enhanced interactions with certain soils on the surface being treated and to extract or separate soils from the aqueous cleaning medium.